Mirrors are the go. Yes, we here at Right Hook are hanging more and more mirrors as people see the light (groan).

Where did this trend come from? I’m guessing that once people realised that mirrors didn’t have to be functional – ie reflect the view or lighten up a room – there was no stopping them.

Now we’re hanging mirrors that are works of art in their own right. They’re funky, they’re fun and many have no frame. Which presents a few challenges in the hanging stakes.

We’ve hung mirrors that are like shards of mirror-glass all attached to each other. Think a mosaic gone mad. There are round ones, with little tiny mirrors radiating from the centre like a sunburst. Or the designer’s decided to have some fun, producing wild geometric shapes like zig-zags (think art deco gone to an extreme). Or maybe they just had lots of leftover bits.

We’re seeing and hanging plenty of others that do have frames. And so many of them are big – very VERY big. And mostly have wide curly-whirly gilt frames. They weigh a lot. We’ve had some that took two burly blokes to lift them. (One of which is likely a husband - conveniently at home just for that purpose.)

Naturally this means we’ve been doing a lot of business. Most folk blanch at the thought of hanging such awkward or heavy pieces - and rightly so. We’ve seen some extraordinarily poor fixtures on some of these fabulous works. You wouldn’t want to rely on them – you could certainly expect a loud crash sometime. So we’ve been replacing a lot of hangers.

Instead, of the wire, chain and cord, we’ve had great success with replacing all that with a special bracket. It’s neat and the mirror sits flat on the wall. Best of all, it never needs straightening and that’s something our clients really love. Yes, we hear you! Having to straighten pictures is just one of those things that really gets on your nerves isn’t it?

Mirrors bought to produce a coherent reflection require some forethought. When our clients purposefully buy a mirror for a particular spot, they don’t always think the consequences through.

So here are some things we’ve recently considered to make sure the mirror hanging is a success – by which we mean the client is happy.

First – what view will it reflect? Recently we posed this question to a client. Their choice of location meant the mirror would reflect a blank wall. Our suggested shift in one direction meant it reflected instead, a glorious sea view. Ta-da! Sensational.

Will it scare you in the half-light? When you come home and the lights aren’t on and you think you see a stranger lurching towards you… well imagine the shock! This is a classic poser for the end of a hallway, just inside a front door, or near the garage door if you enter the house that way.

Dining room location. Lovely. Opens up the room a treat. But hmmm, let’s think ahead. Will it mean your dinner guests watch themselves eating, drinking and talking? You know how hard it is to resist your own reflection. It’s OK for you if you’re in charge of the seating plan, but it might be awkward for your guests. Ditto the lounge when you’re all sitting and chatting.

Will the mirror be too high or too low? Is this a functional mirror whereby you want to see yourself from the top of your artfully arranged hair to the bottom of your well-shod feet? What if you need a compromise – are you able to stand back a bit in the location you’ve selected? Or will you be doing a little jump to check your toes and a little slump to check you head?

But the winner in our ‘most mirrors hung in a house’ award goes to the couple that started off with just two large mirrors, and as our hanging progressed, brought out more and more from their storage. In the end, it totalled eight. And they were thrilled. They had moved to a dear little old Queenslander atop a hill with not a neighbour for miles. The reflections out to lush greenery and long vistas seen from every room were quite sensational.

As for hanging an arty mirror – well, anything goes. If you want to see what we’re talking about, try these places for starters: in the Sunshine Coast - Indigo Living in Kawana and Vast Interior in at Kawana, Noosa, and Maroochydore; in Brisbane, try Mirror Image in Fortitude Valley.